Archive for the ‘Ferrari’ tag

Run a shop that specializes in restorations, rebodies and recreations of high-end sports cars, and you’re bound to encounter some interesting customers. Such is the case with Ross Coleman and his shop, Alchemy Creation, in Hailey, Idaho, which is selling a pair of Ferrari 250 body-forming bucks for customers who have changed their minds on upcoming projects. One, a buck for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GT Spider California short-wheelbase variant (and reportedly not associated with the Cal Spyder replica, despite the description), even includes a skin and assorted body components; the second buck is for a Ferrari 250 GT Cabriolet Pininfarina Series I, though this is offered without the skin or body components. For those seeking the ultimate Ferrari fabrication challenge, these bucks will get you one step closer to your goal; for shops that specialize in Ferrari restoration, these bucks may come in handy, assuming one has the shelf space to store them. Given the escalating prices of both vintage Ferraris and fine art, it’s probably not a stretch to call them sculpture, either. From the seller’s descriptions:

Name a competitive sports racing car of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and chances are good that Brian Redman drove it. His resume includes time behind the wheel of the Ford GT40, the Porsche 917 and 908, the Lola T70, various Chevrons and McLarens and the Ferrari 312, to name but a few. The English driver spent time in Formula 1 as well, taking a single podium finish at the 1968 Spanish Grand Prix, but walked away from F1 contract offers to focus on sports car racing. He quit the sport he loved no less than three times, each time convinced he could start a new life outside of the dangers of motorsport. Fortunately, his retirements never lasted long, and Redman himself once said of racing, “It was the only thing I ever did that I could do reasonably well.”

Born in Burnley, Lancashire, England, in March of 1937, Redman got his start in motorsports in 1959, racing a Morris 1000 Traveller station wagon. From these humble beginnings, Redman next stepped up to compete in an Austin Mini Minor, a Jaguar XK 120 roadster and a Morgan Plus 4, cars that he also drove for his day job of manufacturing and delivering mop heads. By 1965 Redman was winning often enough in both open wheel and sports car series that he began to attract attention from companies like Ford, which first hired him to drive its GT40 at Spa in 1966 (though Redman had previously driven a Nick Cussons-owned Ford GT40 at Monza the same year).

By 1968, Redman had established himself as a member of the Ford team, which would go on to take the World Championship for manufacturers with its GT40. Like many drivers of his day, Redman raced the occasional F1 event as a hired gun, and in 1968 he piloted a Maserati-powered Cooper T81B at the South African Grand Prix, switching to a BRM-powered Cooper T86B at the next race in Spain. Redman finished third here, behind winner Graham Hill and second-place Denny Hulme, but it was to be his only podium finish in a Formula 1 race. At his next outing in Belgium, his Cooper suffered a suspension failure, trapping the driver’s arm between a trackside barrier and the side of his car. The resulting compound fracture left him sidelined until late in the season, when he returned to sports car racing behind the wheel of a Chevron B8.

Despite suffering his first serious accident, Redman appeared none the worse for wear, and spent 1969 driving for Porsche alongside teammate Jo Siffert. Porsche would go on to take the Wold Championship for Makes that year, a feat the team would duplicate in 1970. Redman returned to F1 in 1970 as well, driving a few races for both the Rob Walker and Frank Williams teams as his schedule with Porsche allowed. He claimed the South African Springbok Championship that year as well, driving a Chevron B16 Spyder in a series that wrapped up in January of 1971. Racing at the sport’s highest levels was beginning to take its toll, and Redman stepped away from the sport for the first time in early 1971, opting to run a BMW dealership in South Africa.

Redman’s initial retirement didn’t last long, and by March of 1971 he was back behind the wheel of a Surtees TS7 at the South African Grand Prix. He finished seventh in his only Grand Prix appearance of the year, then went to Europe to race Porsches for the Martini Racing Team, Chevrons for Red Rose Racing and McLarens for Sid Taylor Racing. While piloting a Porsche 908 for the JW Automotive Engineering Team in Italy’s Targa Florio, Redman suffered his second significant racing crash when his steering failed. Unable to slow the car in time, the 908 hit a concrete barrier and burst into flame. Before he could get out of the car, Redman suffered burns to his face, neck, legs and hands, sidelining him for nearly three months.

Late in the year, Redman was hired to drive a single race at Kyalami, South Africa, for the Ferrari team. His victory with co-driver Clay Regazzoni earned him a full-time offer from Ferrari to race the 312 in 1972, and Redman helped to deliver a World Championship for manufacturers to Ferrari. He also returned to F1, driving a handful of races for the Yardley McLaren team and a single race for Marlboro BRM.

By 1974, Redman had relocated to the United States, where he was racing Lolas for Carl Haas in the F5000 series. He delivered championships to the team in 1974, 1975 and 1976, but split his time racing for various teams associated with BMW in sports car endurance racing. While practicing for the Can-Am race at Mont-Tremblant in June of 1977 (where he was once again driving for Carl Haas), Redman suffered the worst accident of his career. Cresting a rise at 170 MPH, his Lola T332 caught air and flipped, landing on its roll cage and body work. With no way to slow the car, Redman was merely along for the ride, watching and listening as the roll cage and his helmet ground away on the racing surface. At the edge of the track, the car’s wheels dug in and flipped the car upright, allowing medical personnel quick access to the badly injured driver. Redman had stopped breathing by the time help arrived, but was quickly resuscitated by first responders. Though still alive, the accident took a heavy toll, leaving Redman with a broken neck, a shattered shoulder, a cracked breastbone and two broken ribs. It affected his eyesight as well, leaving the English driver with serious vision problems that would potentially end his racing career.

For months, it was unclear if a return to racing would even be possible, and Redman began to consider the prospects of a forced retirement. He and his family downsized, selling assets to pay the bills until Redman could find another career path, one that didn’t involve the risk of a fatal accident. Ultimately, Redman’s passion for the sport (and his ability to heal) led him back to the track, and on March 18, 1978, less than a year after his potentially career-ending crash, Redman piloted a Dick Barbour Performance Porsche 935 to victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring, with co-drivers Charles Mendez and Bob Garretson.

Redman continued his success behind the wheel, capturing the 1981 IMSA Camel GT Championship, and winning a multitude of sports car races in a variety of series. He raced professionally through the 1989 season, finally “retiring” for good at the age of 52. Though he no longer races for a paycheck, Redman is a frequent sight at vintage and historic races, as well as a regular participant at the annual Goodwood Festival of Speed.

* Bloomberg reported this week that a wrecked Ferrari Dino 308 GT4 that artist Bertrand Lavier turned into a piece of “found-object sculpture” in 1993 sold for $250,000 in Paris. Art! (via)

* Over our Internet travels we’ve seen plenty of photos of Dennistoun Burney’s streamlined cars, but not until we came across Clasp Garage’s article on them did we realize how many he built (12, with more built under license by Crossley) or exactly how he built them. Seems like he was trying to do in England what Buckminster Fuller and William Stout attempted here in the States.

* Chances are you’ve never heard of the Paykan. Unless, that is, you’re from Iran, where the homegrown Paykan is currently seeing a resurgence in popularity, according to the New York Times.

* Want to transform your 1957 Chevrolet into a Black Widow clone (or, at least, a period-correct stock car racer)? Mac’s Motor City Garage this week posted the 1957 Chevrolet Stock Car Competition Guide, a Chevrolet publication that detailed exactly what its customers needed to be competitive on the stock car circuit.

We’re guessing Steve Phalen’s father was rather enamored with that Ferrari hogging the photo that he took at the road races sometime in the 1950s at Thompson, Connecticut, but if you can look past it for a moment, you’ll see there were plenty of other interesting cars in the parking lot that day. So tell us what you see here, and for bonus points, see if you can track down the serial number on that Ferrari based just on the visual cues.

The title of world’s most expensive car has fallen once again to a Ferrari 250 GTO after one reportedly sold to an unidentified buyer for $52 million.

Bloomberg reported that the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO, chassis number 5111GT, sold last month in a private sale, eclipsing the $35 million that Craig McCaw paid last June for another 250 GTO, chassis number 3505GT. Former owner, Connecticut-based collector Paul Pappalardo, refused to confirm the sale to Bloomberg, which reported that three independent traders in high-end exotics confirmed the price.

Ferrari only constructed 36 of the 300hp 3.0-liter V-12-powered Series 1 250 GTOs in 1962 and 1963, and most have a significant racing history. Ferrari originally sold chassis 5111GT to Jean Guichet of Marsaille, France, in 1963, and Guichet first raced it to a win at the 1963 Tour de France. A class win at the 1963 Coupes du Salon in Monthlery quickly followed, as did other victories and podium finishes at various European events. In 1965, Guichet then sold 5111GT to former Road & Track correspondent Henry N. Manney III, who kept the car until 1971.

The 250 GTO then passed through a string of owners before it was purchased by Paul Pappalardo of Greenwich, Connecticut, who funded a full restoration before campaigning the car at various vintage events from 1984 to 2006. In 2008, Pappalardo sold the car to the Torrota Collection in Spain.

The current world record price for a car to sell at public auction was set earlier this year when Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 sold in July for $29.65 million at the Bonhams Goodwood auction. Other cars have been rumored to sell for more than the $35 million that McCaw paid for his 250 GTO, including the Le Mans-winning Aston Martin DBR1/2 offered for private sale last fall, but none have since been confirmed.

Known on the set as Wet Nellie, the Lotus (or, more correctly, Lotus replica) was constructed by Perry Oceanographic, specifically for the filming of the movie’s underwater chase scenes. Unlike a conventional “dry” submarine, Wet Nellie utilized a flooded cockpit for neutral buoyancy, requiring its operators to wear underwater breathing apparatus. The craft proved tricky to pilot below the water, thanks in part to the Lotus’s aerodynamic shape, which had to be countered by the use of dive planes fore and aft. Powered by four submersible drive units, the Lotus had ample thrust in a forward direction, but was incapable of producing reverse thrust; in other words, the craft had no way of stopping once under motion.

When filming wrapped, the submersible was shipped to a storage locker in Long Island, New York, where it remained untouched for over a decade. In 1989, the locker’s contents were sold at auction, and the unsuspecting buyer soon realized the significance of his purchase. Subsequent authentication proved that the car in the locker was indeed the one and only Wet Nellie, and the car has been displayed in public on rare occasions (such as an exhibit at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles) since.

The hammer price of £550,000 came in below RM’s low pre-auction estimate of £650,000 to £950,000 (about $1 million to $1.5 million), but still well above prices paid for other Lotus Esprit models used in the filming. In 2008, Bonhams auctioned a fully functional Esprit automobile used in the production for £111,500 (approximately $170,115), while a static display Lotus submersible was offered by Coys in 2007 with a pre-auction estimate of £30,000 to £40,000 ($45,800 to $61,000).

On August 1, 1976, while driving for Scuderia Ferrari in the German Grand Prix, Niki Lauda’s Ferrari 312T2 exited the Nuerburgring circuit just before the Bergwerk corner, perhaps due to a rear suspension component failure. After striking an embankment, Lauda’s Ferrari, already on fire, returned to the racing surface where it was struck by a Surtees-Ford driven by Brett Lunger. In a surprising feat of heroism, a corner marshal and four drivers who climbed from their cars (including Lunger, Harald Ertl, Arturo Merzario and Guy Edwards) pulled Lauda from the flaming wreckage. They were successful, but not before Lauda suffered life-threatening burns to his lungs and face.

Though Lauda was reportedly conscious following the crash, his injuries were so extensive that the driver quickly lapsed into a coma. At the hospital, a priest was called to administer last rites, and few believed that the damage to Lauda’s lungs (caused by the inhalation of hot, toxic gases) would be repairable. If the Austrian driver did manage to survive these injuries, he still had second- and third-degree burns and the ever-present risk of infection to contend with. By the most optimistic of projections, Lauda was facing many months of recovery, assuming he survived at all.

Forty-three days later, defying all odds, Lauda climbed back behind the wheel of a Ferrari 312T2 at the Italian Grand Prix. Accounts of the day stated that blood was still weeping from bandages on his head, and that reconstructive surgeries to rebuild his right ear and right eyelid were still pending. Despite this, Lauda qualified fifth on the grid (two positions above his “replacement” at Ferrari, Carlos Reutemann, and four positions above his teammate, Clay Regazzoni) and ended the race in fourth position.

Perhaps more than Lauda’s 25 Formula 1 victories and three series championships, his recovery from near-fatal injuries during the 1976 season paints the picture of Niki Lauda the man and Niki Lauda the driver. Supremely talented and even more headstrong, Lauda always seemed to be struggling with something throughout his career, perhaps shaping his will to compete and his drive to win.

Born into a wealthy Austrian family in February of 1949, Lauda’s decision to begin racing cars was frowned upon, particularly by his grandfather. Progressing through the ranks from racing sedans to racing Formula Vees to racing sports cars, Lauda uncovered an opportunity to join the March Formula 2 team in 1971. There was, however, a catch: To get a seat, Lauda would need to bring sponsorship money with him, and a deal was quickly cut with an Austrian bank. Lauda’s grandfather soon opposed the deal, prompting the bank to withdraw its funding for Lauda’s blossoming career. In a supreme act of defiance, Lauda approached a second bank, taking a loan against his life insurance policy to produce the funding required to join the team.

By 1972, Lauda was driving for March in both Formula 2 and Formula 1, but only the team’s Formula 2 squad proved competitive. To advance his career, Lauda realized that a change in teams would be necessary, so he once again sought a bank loan to buy his way onto the BRM Formula 1 team. Though Lauda’s fortunes improved at BRM in 1973, where he scored two championship points compared to none with March in 1972, his fortunes changed when BRM teammate Clay Regazzoni re-upped with Ferrari for the 1974 season. Regazzoni spoke highly of Lauda, prompting the team to invite Lauda to Maranello.

As Lauda recently recounted to Top Gear, Enzo Ferrari himself extended an offer for Lauda to drive with Scuderia Ferrari, telling Lauda “you are an unknown and nobody knows why you are so fast.” Hardly negotiating from a position of strength, Lauda accepted an offer that amounted to the modern equivalent of roughly $66,000 per season, and his first race with Ferrari was the 1974 season-opening Argentine Grand Prix. Lauda would finish fourth in the standings that season behind Regazzoni, Jody Scheckter, and Emerson Fittipaldi, but his six consecutive pole positions would speak of things to come in 1975.

Though the year began with underwhelming results in Argentina, Brazil and South Africa, Lauda captured his first pole of the year in Spain. A collision at the start of the race ended Lauda’s day before the first corner, but his fortunes would change dramatically in Monaco, where Lauda would kick off a three-race winning streak. In the seven races that followed, Lauda scored two more victories and an additional three podium finishes, easily capturing his first F1 championship.

In the races leading up to Lauda’s 1976 crash at the Nürburgring, the Ferrari driver appeared poised to capture his second championship. The aftermath of the accident would also see the initial souring of Lauda’s relationship with Ferrari; literally giving him up for dead, Ferrari recruited Reutemann to replace Lauda for the remainder of the season. When Lauda announced his return to the cockpit at Monza, the team initially seemed indifferent about giving him a car to drive. Things would go from bad to worse at the season-ending Japanese Grand Prix: Still in contention for the championship, Lauda parked his Ferarri when the FIA failed to red-flag the race, held in a torrential downpour. Lauda’s safety protest handed the 1976 championship to James Hunt, prompting many fans to call for Lauda’s dismissal; some even went so far as to call Lauda a coward, despite the fact that the Austrian driver was back in the cockpit, as fast as ever, just six weeks after suffering his horrific crash.

The following season, 1977, dawned with Lauda being told he’d be second in the pecking order to Reutemann. At pre-season testing, Lauda was instructed to test brake pads while Reutemann tested tires, at least until Lauda threatened to walk away from his contract and join the McLaren F1 team. When the team relented, Lauda showed his merit by turning a quicker time in three laps than Reutemann had turned in a week of testing. Still, the writing was on the wall, and after clinching his second championship at the Italian Grand Prix, Lauda walked away from the team to sit out the season’s two remaining races.

Lauda would race for the Brabham Alfa-Romeo team in 1978 and 1979, but would finish fourth in the points the first year and 14th the following year. Frustrated with the team’s results, Lauda retired from F1 before the end of the 1979 season, preferring to spend his time running charter airline Lauda Air. His departure from the sport would be short-lived, however, as 1982 saw him return to the cockpit for McLaren. He’d drive for the team an additional three seasons, capturing his third world championship (by a mere half a point over Alain Prost) in 1984.

It’s all but impossible to recount Lauda’s successes, both on and off the track, in a single, brief article. In business, as well as in racing, Lauda is widely regarded as a man unafraid to tackle a new challenge, regardless of how daunting it may seem, and utterly uncompromising on his principles. Still active in motorsports, today Lauda serves as the non-executive chairman of the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team’s board of directors, which may help account for the team’s remarkable progress during the 2013 season. Regardless of later achievements, Lauda will always be best remembered for his almost superhuman recovery and return to the highest levels of motor racing during the 1976 season.

For lovers of Italian automobiles, motorcycles, and boats, one of the highlights of Automobile Week in Monterey, California, is Concorso Italiano, a single-day event that celebrates the beauty and engineering of marques like Ferrari, Moto Guzzi, Lamborghini, Ducati, Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Bizzarini, De Tomaso and Fiat. Since 2009, the event has been held at the stunning Laguna Seca Golf Ranch, but this changes (along with the day of the week) for 2014, as the show moves back to its former home at the Bayonet Black Horse Golf Course in Seaside, California.

The exact reason for the return to Seaside isn’t clear, but may have something to do with access. The narrow and steep entry and exit road to this year’s event was challenging enough in a rented crossover, let alone an Italian supercar (except, of course, a Lamborghini LM002), and the air was frequently filled with the heady aroma of burning clutch. Given its location on Monterey Bay, Bayonet Black Horse is likely more hospitable to both those attending and those displaying vehicles, and it did serve successfully as the venue’s backdrop from 2002-2007.

Alfa Romeo Spiders on display.

Also new for 2014 is a change in the day of the show. Traditionally, Concorso Italiano had been held on the Friday of Monterey Automobile Week, but this conflicts with The Quail, presenting a hardship for both attendees and those displaying automobiles. In 2014, the 29th annual Concorso Italiano will move to Saturday, August 16, giving participants the chance to enjoy The Quail on Friday, August 15 (and, of course, the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance on Sunday, August 17). The 2014 Concorso Italiano will celebrate 100 years of Maserati and commemorate the masterpieces created by coachbuilder Zagato.

Event organizers have also announced a new concours event for those in southern California, specifically Palm Desert. Scheduled for March 30, 2014, Desert Concorso: Classic and European Sports Cars expands its horizons to include vehicles from automakers outside Italy, although the inaugural event also recognizes Maserati’s 100th birthday. As with Concorso Italiano, the show celebrates food and fashion, too, so it’s fitting that the event will be held in conjunction with Fashion Week El Paseo.

Ferrari Dinos.

For additional details on the 2014 Concorso Italiano or on the 2014 Desert Concorso: Classic and European Sports Cars, visit Concorso.com.

Introduced in 1948, Ferrari’s 166 series built from the lessons learned with its 125 and 159 models, eventually becoming the first Ferrari model to win a major international race. Tipo 166 chassis 016-I, raced by Luigi Chinetti to a victory in the 12 Hours of Montlhery before finding its way into the hands of sportsman Briggs Cunningham, also bears the distinction of being the first Ferrari imported into the United States, in 1949. This past weekend, that unique Miles Collier-owned car took Best in Show honors at the Lime Rock Sunday in the Park Concours.

Ferrari’s history in the United States may have been recorded differently had Jaguar’s Coventry factory been more efficient at producing cars. Told that his ordered Jaguar XK120 would not be delivered in time for an SCCA event at Long Island’s Bridgehampton circuit, Briggs Cunningham scrambled to find a suitable replacement that could be delivered in time. A deal was struck to purchase the Montlhery-winning 1948 Ferrari 166 Spyder Corsa from Chinetti, and the car was delivered to these shores a mere four days before the race. With driver George Rand at the wheel, the Ferrari set the fastest time in practice and was leading the event until an oil line failed, retiring the car.

The Ferrari was repaired in time for the next race at Watkins Glen, in September of 1949. Driven by Cunningham himself, the car fared well in both the preliminary and main events, scoring a pair of podium finishes. The following season, 1950, saw Cunningham take victory in both the preliminary and main events at Long Island’s Suffolk Airport in May, and the event marks the very first time a Ferrari model was victorious in the United States. By June of 1950, Cunningham had relinquished the wheel, turning the car over to Sam Collier, brother of C. Miles Collier.

Sam Collier drove the 166 to a preliminary round win at Bridgehampton in June, but it would be his final victory in the car. Running third in an event at New York’s Watkins Glen in September of 1950, Collier spun the car on gravel and was killed in the ensuing crash. The incident prompted Cunningham to advise his crew that he never wanted to see the car again, but his heat of the moment proclamation was to be short-lived. By the following season, the car had been rebuilt and campaigned by Cunningham’s team at the Buenos Aires Grand Prix. In June of 1951, Cunningham himself climbed behind the wheel, finishing in fifth at an event in Bridgehampton.

Ferrari Tipo 166, chassis 016-I, would see action at just five more races through the 1953 season, before becoming part of Cunningham’s museum collection. In 1986, the car was purchased by Miles C. Collier (son of C. Miles Collier, who died of polio in 1954) as part of the Briggs Cunningham Collection, and it remains part of the private Collier Collection to this day.

Other Lime Rock Sunday in the Park Concours winners of note include a 1930 Aston Martin International, owned by Richard and Phillip Rader of Briarcliff, New York, which earned top honors in the “Risky but Racy” class; a 1967 Toyota 2000 GT prepared by Carroll Shelby and owned by Bob Tkacik of Saco, Maine, which captured first place in the “Speed & Style” class; a 1964 Ferrari Lusso, owned by Roger Werner of Greenwich, Connecticut, which took first place in the “Businessman’s Express” class; and a 1966 Ford Mustang, owned by Andy Sullivan of Bethel, Connecticut, which captured the crowd’s attention as the “People’s Pick” winner.

A 1982 Ferrari 308 GTSi driven less than 1,500 original miles from new is being raffled off to benefit the International Motor Racing Research Center at Watkins Glen.

This car’s previous owner didn’t get much enjoyment out it for his investment – the 308 GTSi sold new for upwards of $60,000 – but some lucky winner will get a chance to own a time capsule example of the go-to car for sports car enthusiasts looking to join the Ferrari community as inexpensively as possible.

The GTSi is the spyder or targa version of the GTBi, both of which were powered by a transverse-mounted, Bosch fuel-injected 2.9-liter V-8 with two valves per cylinder, coupled to a five-speed transmission. The fuel-injected two-valve 308s tend to lag in value slightly behind the older carbureted cars and the Quattrovalvole cars with four-valve heads.

The 308 was donated by avid vintage racer Greg Galdi, president and CEO of Custom Computer Specialists, Inc. on Long Island, New York.

The drawing for the car will be held December 7 at the center, 610 Decatur Street, Watkins Glen. Tickets are $60 each, or $100 for a pair – a total of 2,308 will be sold. Hopeful Ferrari owners can enter the raffle by calling the center at 607-535-9044 or by downloading a printable form at RacingArchives.org and mailing it in.